Donald Trump took a financial and legal hit that may ruin his business empire when Judge Arthur Engoron handed down a 92-page ruling on Friday.
New York Attorney General Letitia James praised the sanctions as appropriate measures to ensure Trump’s fraud cannot continue. This has put the Trump Organization in a financial, personnel, and legal limbo as the ex-president launches an expensive presidential campaign among his continuing legal fights.
Trump and his lawyers have expressed their intention to take Engoron’s decision to the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department of New York, for further review.
After ordering the Trump Organization to be monitored by an outside entity for three years, Engoron changed his mind and voided part of his earlier decision. The facts of the case, including the evidence of each witness, were also extensively discussed in the long-ruling. If Trump’s first appeal fails, he may seek the opinion of New York’s Court of Appeals, which may prolong the appeal process by many years. The attorneys for Trump are optimistic about their chances of appealing the decision, praising previous decisions by the First Department that reduced the time limit for actions related to the case.
First and foremost among the problems the Trump Organization is experiencing is an absence of leadership. To further restrict Trump’s access to funds, Engoron forbade him from seeking loans from any New York banks and, for two years, restricted senior executives from running New York firms. Even while Trump is still indebted to Deutsche Bank, he may have avoided the penalty by taking out new loans from Axos Bank in California.
To increase independent control, Engoron directed Judge Barbara Jones to continue monitoring the corporation and establish a director of compliance. The former president may have to sell some of his cherished properties to pay the penalties issued by Engoron if Trump’s appeal fails to minimize them.
